Home

July 3, 2018

Larsen & Toubro is building a series of in-house designed 7 New
Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the Indian Coast Guard
against a 2015 contract stipulating deliveries between 2018 to 2021.

The
first OPV, despite being the First of Class (FOC), was delivered in
April 2018, ahead of schedule. The second OPV launched in January 2018
is presently being readied for sea trials and is planned to be delivered
ahead of schedule shortly,while system integration is in progress in
3rdand 4thOPVs, which are slated for launch later this year.

Larsen
& Toubro is building a series of in-house designed 7 New Generation
Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the Indian Coast Guard against a
2015 contract stipulating deliveries between 2018 to 2021.Today, the
keels of 5thand 6th OPVswere laid by Inspector General TP Sadanandan,
TM, Deputy Director General (Materiel & Maintenance) Indian Coast
Guard at L&T’s Defence Shipyard at Kattupalli near Chennai.

L&T
is the first Private Sector Indian shipyard to design, construct and
deliver OPVs for the Defence forces with a unique distinction of being
on or ahead of schedule in all Naval shipbuilding programs entrusted
till date. L&T’s state-of-the-art Defence shipyard at Kattupalli
features a shiplift system along with multiple dry and wet berths that
enables concurrent construction of multiple ships.

Building them
modularly under covered workshops and finishing on building berths on
land yields unmatched pace, very high level of completion before launch
and faster induction in Defence service.

With a long term commitment to
the defence sector, we have made huge investments in Kattupalli shipyard
and seven other dedicated defence production units to serve the
nation.”

Mr Jayant D Patil, Whole-time Director (Defence) and
Member of L&T Board, said: “In the Defence Segment, L&T has an
impressive reputation in in-house design, development and delivery of
equipment, systems and platforms and has gained the confidence of our
esteemed customers. Among Indian shipyards, we are unique to have the
financial strength,track record, and huge capacity to build &deliver
complex defence vessels on time.”

Vice Admiral B Kannan (Retd.),
MD & CEO L&T Shipbuilding, said: “The keel laying of 5th and
6th OPVs comes close on the heels of delivery and commissioning of first
OPV of the series, ICGS Vikram in April, 2018. The vessel, despite
being First of Class, was completed ahead of contracted schedule, which
is a record in the five-decade long history of Defence Shipbuilding in
India.

The ship’s build period, which is reckoned from keel
laying to delivery, was accomplished in an impressive time frame of less
than 24 months and being substantially bettered on follow-on ships.”

L&T
has had impeccable record of delivery of Defence vessels since
inception. Earlier this month, two Interceptor Boats (IBs) designed and
built by L&T were commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard, up to
two years ahead of schedule.

These shipsare 39th and 40thvessels
of the series of 54 interceptor boats being built by L&T. All these
ships are presently deployed by the Indian Coast Guard across the Indian
coastline to strengthen coastal security andaugment patrolling to
prevent infiltration, smuggling and illegal fishing.

Earlier this
year, L&T delivered to the Indian Navy,India’s first indigenously
designed and built Floating Dock (FDN),which can dock warships /
submarines of upto 8000 tons of displacement.

The FDN, which is
presently stationed at Andaman & Nicobar Islands, was formally
inducted into the Naval Service in May2018 at a ceremony at Port Blair.
The FDN, which offers a cost effective and versatile solution for
concurrent dry docking ships / submarines,has attracted attention of
many prospective users.

L&T has also been entrusted by the
Ministry of Defence of Socialist Republic of Vietnam to design and
construct High Speed Patrol Vessels for the Vietnam Border Guard. The
mandate is thus far the largest export order received by any Indian
Shipyard.

The Defence shipbuilding projects at L&T are
befitting examples of ‘Make in India’, as OPVs, FDN and IBs have all
been designed and constructedcompletely in-house, apart from being
delivered to the Defence forces ahead of contracted schedule, thereby
hugely contributing to nation’s security infrastructure.

In
addition, L&T supports Indian Navy and Coast Guardfor Repairs and
Refit services at Kattupalli shipyard. L&T has till date completed
repair / refit (SR / MR as well as Emergency Repairs) of many Indian
Naval and Coast Guard ships.